Astwood (St. Peter)

ASTWOOD (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Newport-Pagnell, on the road to Bedford; containing 243 inhabitants. This place was at the Conquest surveyed as part of the adjoining parish of Hardmead, and belonged to William Fitzanculph, from whom it descended by marriage to Fulk Paganell, the founder of Newport-Pagnell. The parish comprises 1259a. 1r. 7p., and is high table-land, which recedes on each side; the soil is "galt," a kind of clay mixed with lime and chalk. The female population are employed in the manufacture of lace. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 6. 8., endowed with the great tithes, and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor: the tithes have been commuted for £230. 11. 6., of which £29. 10. have been resigned for land; the glebe consists of 14 acres, with a house built in 1843. The church is an ancient structure, with a square tower; it contains a rather handsome Norman font, and a brass monument of three figures, representing a man and his two wives. There is a place of worship for Independents.